


To a couch, and a stove and a backyard

by rightfullymine



Category: SKAM (TV)
Genre: Fluff, Multi, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-21
Updated: 2018-02-21
Packaged: 2019-03-22 05:16:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,960
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13757085
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rightfullymine/pseuds/rightfullymine
Summary: A summer evening. Even, Isak, Eva, and Jonas have dinner together. For the first time.Impressions on love and friendship.





	To a couch, and a stove and a backyard

1

 

Even is lying on his side of the bed, jeans on but socks off. The afternoon light pours in from the window, making weird shapes on the denim on his legs. It’s been a lovely summer day, warm and still, but the sun today is a pale thing, tentative and sleepy. Even can relate.

He adjusts his face on the arm propped against the head of the bed so that the sunlight hits his face just so. He can see from the corner of his eye the steam swirling up from the cup of tea he made a bunch of minutes ago, ponders to get a sip just to decide against it a second later.

He turns back to the matter at hand: staring at his and Isak’s open wardrobe to _finally_ settle on something to wear. He wants to pick something not too over the top but that will still stand out from the usual clothes he wears every day. He chuckles to himself, silly and young, and combs a hand through his hair unconsciously.

They are going to dinner at Eva’s later on. He can’t remember whose idea it was to begin with, he just knows that once it was settled that the four of them would have dinner together somewhere in the foreseeable future, he’s been giddy with excitement and warm with a kind of subdued happiness that he knows from experience is hard to come by. He knows a lot of it has to do with Isak, as everything in his life seems to, and how important this meal with his two friends, finally together again, must be for him, even if he hasn’t said a word about it aside from the manly congratulations he yelled at Jonas a couple of days after Eid.

His face splits in an eager yet involuntary grin when he hears the door of their flat close shut and the familiar sound of footsteps down the hall.

“Even?!” Isak calls.

“In the bedroom babe,” he shouts, and does have a sip of his tea, after all.

When Isak enters the bedroom, his eyes find him immediately and he is on the bed by his side, hand on his cheek, before Even can blink. They kiss in greeting, slow and lazy, like they have all the time in the world. After a bit, Even can’t help the smile that blossoms on his lips, touching Isak’s teeth and contagiously making him laugh. He nuzzles his nose to Isak’s and mutters a sound that could be a hello, or a sigh.

Isak reaches the baby hair at the back of Even’s head and starts playing with them. He lays his head on Even’s shoulder and breathes.

“Are you tired?” he asks, because he knows him. Even shakes his head no, he’s had a good day.

“I hope Eva and Jonas made a ton of food cause I’m starving,” he says and looks up at Even waiting for an answer.

“Mmm, considering we’ve been invited for dinner I’d say that’s a safe bet”, Even replies and loads his comment with an extra amount of sarcasm, just because he can, just because Isak loves him. The fool.

Isak laughs, expectedly. Even loves this about what they share, adores being able to predict Isak’s reactions and things he’ll do or say before he does. He thinks it’s the truest form of intimacy.

Isak closes his eyes, his eyelashes fanning his cheeks and fluttering with a movement that’s involuntary but sweet nonetheless. When he opens them, his stare lands on the bouquet of tulips of assorted colours that’s lying on his side of the bed. He stares for a while, then looks up at Even, puzzled expression on his pretty face, scrunches up his nose like when he doesn’t get one of Even’s cinematic references. But it lasts less than a second, then his features relax with realisation and the resulting grin is so cheeky Even is tempted to kiss it away from his insolent, beautiful mouth.

“Did you get Eva flowers?” he asks, incredulous and knowing the answer to his question at the same time.

Even decides to play it haughtily, schools his face diligently to conceal his own grin. “And what if I did?”

This time, Isak doesn’t even have the decency to look understanding, he just bursts out laughing, clutching his stomach and throwing his head back until he’s basically lying down on Even’s lap. Even can’t really keep up with the affronted expression when Isak is looking like this, all tingling laughter and sharp angles and faint sunlight. He smiles in spite of himself, and it turns out easier that way.

“You do realise she’s not my mum and you don’t have to impress her, right?” Isak asks, wiping laughing tears at the corner of his eyes. “You’ve already hanged, like, she likes you already.”

But that’s not true, Even knows. He’s been in Eva’s company before, but always when their two groups were together, which hasn’t been all that frequently. This is the first time the four of them are hanging together and he feels that it’s a make it or break it situation, that if their four-person dynamic doesn’t work, it’ll probably be the last time they’ll organise something just the four of them. That makes him sadder than he thought it would. Isak loves Eva, in that reckless and tender way you love a childhood friend, and in the whispered words they share at night Even could detect the sheer relief Isak felt when his two friends managed to mend what he helped tear apart between them last year. What if now that things are where Isak’s wanted them for so long he can’t enjoy them because of him? It’s a bit of a test for Even, given he is the new component of their group and that’s just a big responsibility, even if Isak denies it, even if, Even’s pretty sure, it won’t change things for them.

Or, he’s just overthinking the whole thing. Fuck it.

“Still, she’s invited us to her place and I wanted to get her something nice,” he retorts, still a firm believer in the magical kindness of flowers, eyeing the bouquet again just to re-appreciate its beauty.

“We’re bringing alcohol,” Isak reminds him, like that settles his nice gestures for the year.

“And I’m bringing flowers too, you can hide your jealousy behind bad manners all you like,” Even teases, his adoring gaze betraying the mocking nature of his words.

Isak scoffs, indignant, then laughs out loud because he realises he’s been found out and launches himself at Even’s chest, playfully aggressive, and they tumble down on the bed, laughing hysterically like the idiots they are.

Even kisses the side of Isak’s neck, licks it, then kisses it again. Isak sighes, eyes closed over blissful smile, and Even thinks, whatever happens tonight, they might just be alright.

 

 

2

 

Jonas has been cutting up fruit for the past 20 minutes and he strongly suspects this task will never end.

He is also in the middle of a fully blown argument with his girlfriend of two weeks over whose responsibility it was to add saffron to the paella they just made, clearly forgetting to add saffron. Life is blissful.

“You were supposed to take care of the rice!” Eva exclaims while she throws chopped strawberries in a big bowl for the fruit salad. She is wearing a baby blue flimsy dress that leaves her shoulders exposed and she’s barefoot in her kitchen, something that she must remember from before makes him feel all sorts of things. The tease.

“Yes, but the saffron was in your pile of ingredients, hence your responsibility,” he rebuts, regretting the day he agreed to cooking and not ordering take away. They have been slaving away in the kitchen for hours now, and emotions are running high. He asked his mom for her paella recipe while she had Noora give her hers and then they mixed the two in an attempt to cook an _enhanced personalised version_. At the moment, he’d settle for edible.

“Are we fighting right now?” Eva asks after a minute of relative silence, turning more fully towards him so that they’re facing each other.

“Looks like it,” and he takes a step towards her and now he’s in her personal space, “it’s hot as hell.”

She smirks in amusement and links her arms around his neck. Jonas had forgotten how heavenly her perfume smelled. He lowers his head to nuzzle her perfect nose, then leaves a kiss on the underside of her chin. He slowly kisses his way up, plants a kiss at the corner of her mouth before pressing his lips to hers. She draws him in even closer, and he deepens the kiss, hungry with love and delirious with this feeling of Eva on his tongue, Eva in his nose and in his hands. _Eva, Eva, Eva_.

Seconds, or minutes, later, she leans back and sighs, her lips extra red from all the kissing. “Did I make it weird by inviting them here ad promising to cook dinner, you think?”

He doesn’t pretend to think about it, “A little bit, yeah.”

“Jonas!” she shrieks indignantly but ends up laughing anyway.

“What! It’s true,” he explains, “it’ll be fine, it’s just Isak and Even. If we stick to making fun of Isak relentlessly we’ll get on brilliantly.”

She gives a chuckle at that and he brings a lock of her hair behind her ear, endeared by her shyness and feeling blessed he can still make her laugh.

“I’m a little nervous.”

“Don’t be. He loves you.” And he hopes she knows this to be true as deeply as he does.

She leans in again and kisses him some more, for courage, and he would give her his heart and all of his cockiness if he could.

“This is not the end of our discussion, by the way,” she murmurs, eyes still closed and nose pressed to his cheek.

“Ok,” he replies, smiling though he knows she can’t see.

To signal the end of this sweet exchange, the doorbell rings. She gives him and extra kiss for good measure, then presses her lips to the spot on the side of his neck that she bit this morning when she came, impossibly soft in his arms and still warm from sleep. Then she heads to the front door.

He takes a couple of seconds to breathe and tear his mind (and body) away from dangerously alluring places. When he is sure his blood got back to all the different spots of his body, he follows behind.

“Halla boys,” he greets enthusiastically when he enters the hallway, then does his handshake both with Even and Isak.

Isak has his usual Illuminati t-shirt on (which Jonas has been coveting for years) while Even is in a ludicrous floral shirt that puts Jonas’s self-control to the test. The fact he manages not to laugh is a testament to how much Even has grown on him. They both have wet hair, which disgustingly says more than he’d like to know about their recent activities. But the oddest thing must be the bouquet of tulips Even is holding in his hand, confident smirk in place.

“These are for Eva,” Even starts, his smile widening on his face. The fucker is handsome.

Eva brightens up like a light has been turned on, grinning in the happy way of hers that Jonas is a sucker for.

“Aww, are they really?” she squeals and takes the bouquet in her hands, lowering her head to smell the flowers, “they’re gorgeous, thank you!”

Even hasn’t stopped grinning. Jonas chuckles, he might be handsome but he’s a fucking sap, too. He turns to Isak, who’s standing next to Even looking on at the scene, raises his impressive eyebrows and asks, “Is your boyfriend hitting on my girl? Is that what’s happening?”

Isak bursts out laughing at the same time that Eva goes, “Jonas!” like she seems to be doing 15 times a day. He sticks his tongue out at her like the actual kid he is.

“And today’s winner of _Who wants to be a Neanderthal_ is Jonas Vasquez, whoo hooo”, she mimics and sticks her tongue out in return, going around him in a ridiculous monkey dance complete with sounds and gestures. He catches her by the arm and tugs her into his side. She comes easily and wraps an arm around him. Isak and Even are snorting with laughter and he is trying to keep a straight face, but it’s proving hard.

“Are you sure ingratiating yourself with one of Isak’s friends only to lose another is the right move?” Jonas goes on, but Even is undeterred and gives a shrug of his shoulders, still sporting a shit-eating grin, like the cat that got the mouse.

“Who says _ingratiate_ after 10 o’clock, honestly,” mutters Isak to Even rolling his eyes, pretending to speak to him only but making sure his voice carries to his best friend.

Jonas chuckles, in spite of himself, and gets ready to spit a colourful insult when Even interrupts him, “I don’t know really, I can’t help going after the best looking of them.”

The effect of his words is immediate. Isak is spasming with laughter, whistling and moving his hands like a thug. “Ouch! That must hurt like a motherfucker, eh?”

Eva, next to him, is positively delighted. She winks at Even mock-seductively and exclaims, “Scoring points left and right, Even!”

Then she sneaks a hand under Jonas’s t-shirt and starts stroking his side.

He pretends to be offended, “She doesn’t even like flowers!”

Eva pinches his side with a little too much force, “Excuse me, that’s not true! I don’t like them romantically, these are lovely.”

“Did you let him bring her flowers when you knew Eva hates them?” Jonas asks Isak, purposely ignoring her complaining.

“For the last time, I don’t hate them,” comes Eva’s exasperated reply.

Isak looks sheepish for a second, then turns to Even trying to exact forgiveness via his unrepentant puppy-dog expression. “I wanted to see the scene play out,” he says, and plants a kiss on Even’s cheek.

“You’re a little shit,” is Even’s reply but the look in his eyes is anything but mad.

“Did you at least bring alcohol?” asks Eva, to put an end to the banter.

“I told you alcohol would save the day,” Isak replies, looking at Even with a victorious smile, as if he’s just won a bet between them.

Everyone laughs at that, Jonas most of all. He is warm all over, and not only because it’s summer and not only because Eva hasn’t yet removed her arm from under his shirt. He suspects it has to do with this ridiculous group of people, together, as they were always meant to be, laughing and talking shit and being generally the best idiots he could ever hope to have as friends.

He suggests they go through to the backyard and start with dinner, but in the living room Eva begs them for a match at Just Dance, and though he knew he was hopeless at saying no to her, he notes with pleasure that Isak and Even don’t fare much better. They split into teams and for a bit he and Isak manage to give Even and Eva, king and queen of the dance floor, a run for their money. It lasts until Cotton Eyed Joe comes on though, and the two of them give a masterful performance, complete with entirely inappropriate sultry looks that have Isak and Jonas rolling on the floor with hysterical laughter. Two hours later sees the two exhausted on the sofa, t-shirts drenched in sweat and mouths thirsty, watching dejectedly as Even picks Eva up, like a trophy, and they go around the living room to bow to their invisible public, there to congratulate them on their historic win.

 

 

3

 

“Do you remember that time he tried to cook for us at the cabin?” Eva asks Jonas at the table, and Isak can barely make out her words as she’s already deep in laughter at the simple recollection.

He knew the evening would lead up to the moment Even asked his two friends about the most embarrassing moments of his life. He knew that and still he agreed to come here. He’s such a fucking idiot. He closes his eyes to breathe and focus on the feel of his full stomach, the paella Jonas and Eva cooked being unexpectedly scrumptious, and Even’s hand lying gently on his thigh.

“He was going to burn us all alive there! Lucky thing you had that goldfish,” laughs Jonas and she snickers against his cheek. Isak is already going back on his enthusiasm about them getting back together. The two are disgustingly clingy.

Even, at his side, makes a sound between disbelieving and surprised. “You doused the flames with a fish bowl?!”

Isak won’t stand this kind of accusation, “Don’t say flames like that, it wasn’t even a proper fire!”

“It so was!” rebuts Eva, chewing on a leftover shrimp.

“Ehi, I saved your lives, didn’t I,” he mutters to his two oldest, ungrateful, friends.

“And killed poor Sebastian The Fish in the process, may god keep his soul,” is Jonas’s amused reply. Even giggles next to him, squeezes his thigh.

“Aww, babe, our hero, our saviour!” Even chants, then leans into him and plants a not so chaste kiss on his lips. Isak closes his eyes as a reflex, Even’s kisses being too delicious to resist, even in company.

The conversation fades after that, as they all get back to eating what’s left of their dinner, Isak gulping down the remaining beer in his glass. They are sitting in Eva’s back garden and even Isak, who hates commenting on these things, has to admit that the atmosphere is aglow. It’s well after eleven but the sun is far from disappearing for the night and the light filters through the leaves of a tree dreamily, turning the green of the foliage a weird shade of blue, and Eva’s hair bright as fire.

The evening hasn’t finished yet but he finds himself with the burning desire to be back here in a week, around the same table, with the same people. He wants to feel the same kind of ache in his belly from laughing like mad with his friends, the same damp stain on his shorts from Even’s sweaty palm. He is impatient with what he wants, desires it all now, at this very moment. Tomorrow things might have changed and he’s eager for everything to stay exactly as it is now.

When his mind gets back to the table in the garden, Even and Jonas are engrossed in a discussion about the merits of La La Land versus Moonlight, and Eva is sipping Jonas’s glass, her chin resting contentedly on his shoulder. He lowers his gaze and gently strokes his boyfriend’s hand, still on his thigh, and is momentarily overwhelmed by a wave of affection so powerful he’s surprised to swallow down tears.

Then, his phone buzzes in his pocket. He takes it out and reads, _Should we ditch these two dorks and go have dessert inside? I made tiramisù ;)_

For a second, he struggles to understand. But when he raises his head from his phone, Eva is looking at him with an unmistakably mischievous look in her eyes and he grins like a fool and gets up from the table, taking care to remove Even’s hand first, after placing a tender kiss on his wrist.

Even and Jonas give no signs they have noticed them, so when Eva disentangles herself from her boyfriend, Isak follows her inside to the kitchen.

The moment they enter the house, the atmosphere changes drastically. Eva has to turn the lights on, as sunlight is not enough for the inside. He’s self-conscious all of a sudden, and digs his hands in his pockets to avoid wringing them behind his back. He feels silly for feeling this way and envies Eva her ability to seem totally unperturbed. After all, what would she be nervous about? Why is he nervous at all?

In an attempt to relax himself, he leans on the kitchen counter, and watches as Eva takes a tray out of the fridge and cuts two pieces of a soggy kind of sponge that actually looks delicious.

“Have you heard Sara is seeing one of the Penetrator guys?” she asks when she turns around, coming towards him to hand him a plate. She smirks playfully, touching her hair to keep it away from her face. Isak remembers how much he loves gossiping with her.

“What!” he exclaims, genuinely surprised, before digging into his slice of cake. “No way! How do you know?”

Eva answers with a mouthful of cake, chewing loudly, “Someone saw her going into his car when she left Sana’s party.”

“How am I knowing this from you and not from Sana?”

“Because, not to brag, but I am much worse than her,” she giggles at her own joke. “Besides, would you rather have this conversation with her than with me?” she asks him, and gives him a smug look. He’s taken aback by the question -though she clearly was joking- like the realisation of something he should have already known is only now hitting his consciousness.

She doesn’t give him time to answer, “Anyway, I asked Noora to ask William and he says the guy has two brain cells, so..”

 He laughs. “She has to step up her game then…” he replies, and licks the fork clean of the remaining bits of cream while waiting for Eva’s laugh. It comes loud and pretty, as usual.

After a bit of silence, where she finishes off the contents of her plate and silently cuts a second serving both for herself and for Isak, he absentmindedly comments, “This is incredible, I didn’t know you could bake.”

“There’s a lot of things you don’t know about me,” she replies, and holds his gaze for a second. She doesn’t look serious, per se, just not the giggly girl she was a second ago.

He guesses that’s true. He was so selfish two summers ago, so blinded by his own ploys that he never noticed things about her, never took the time to see his friend for what she was, his friend. His stomach drops quickly, he gets hot and hopes against hope his neck is not turning flushed. He thinks back to her earlier question. He suddenly needs to say something.

“I am sorry-“

 She rushes to stop him, moving her hands in front of her, “No, Isak. I didn’t mean… I know that you…“

He knows she doesn’t want him to continue, considers this conversation in the past, has forgiven him.

But he can’t let this go. He needs to speak the words he’s never said to her.

“No, please, let me say this,” he pleads with her and he hopes she can forgive his scratchy voice, the treacherous sound of his tears in his breath.

He’s realising right now, in this kitchen, that it’s not even about Jonas, or not exclusively, anymore. It’s not about him being grateful she’s never said anything to his best friend. It’s about him, Isak, and her, and him letting her down and never showing her he wanted to make up for it.

“I am so sorry. I hurt you and I was a dick. I never told you you were one of my best friends, that I cared for you. But I did, I do.”

As soon as the words leave his mouth, he feels ten times better, like he regained control of his heart and for once it’s actually beating in sync with his thoughts. How nice. He didn’t catch the moment when she started crying, but she’s licking tears away from her upper lip now. For a second, he second-guesses his decision to speak, afraid it was yet another selfish thing to do, but then she smiles through her tears, cheeks red and puffy, and he understands that she appreciated it, just doesn’t trust her voice to speak. He feels 20 times better now.

“And I am happy about the two of you. He’s been disgustingly chirpy,” he says and she snorts, wiping messily at her face with her hands, hopping off the counter she’s been sitting on and making her way to him.

When she reaches him, she leans into him and presses her face to his shoulder. He pats her hair and gets assaulted by the warmth that consoling her gives him. They stay like this for a minute.

“You’re wiping your snot on my Illuminati t-shirt, aren’t you?” he realises out loud.

She laughs but doesn’t move her face, “A little bit, yeah.”

When Even and Jonas enter the kitchen some time later, they are slightly caught by surprise and she looks up at them wide-eyed before settling by his side. Even gives him a worried expression, _are you okay_. He nods his head imperceptibly.

“Did you make my girl cry?”

Fucking teenagers in love.

 

 

4

 

It’s nearly 2 a.m. and they haven’t gone to sleep yet. Isak and Even left not too long ago with promises to join them tomorrow when they go swimming in the Oslo fjord and Eva adamantly turned down Jonas’s suggestion to clean up a bit, suddenly feeling bone tired from all the cooking and the bit of anxiety and the tears she’s cried today.

They are lying in her bed. Or, more accurately, Jonas is lying on her bed while she’s lying on Jonas. He’s got his head propped behind his left arm on two pillows while the other is curled around her lower back, watching a documentary about the ocean and feeding himself ice cream from the tub with a spoon. Occasionally, he feeds spoonfuls of chocolate goodness to her too. She is not particularly hungry, to be honest, but the coolness of the ice cream is a welcome reprieve after the heat of the day.

 She has changed into the tattered t-shirt she usually sleeps in and has adjusted her position on the bed so that half her body is curled on top of his, and when he breathes her face and arms rise with his chest. The movement is so lovely and comforting she thinks she could stay like this forever.

She’s on her phone chatting with Noora, who wants to know how the paella turned out, and she chuckles when her friend sends her a funny selfie she just took to show Eva her new pyjamas. She also catches up with her mom’s messages and sighs when she reads them.

“I think Mamma is seeing someone in Bergen,” she blurts out, more to herself than to Jonas.

“Yeah?” He doesn’t remove his eyes from the tv, just drops the spoon in the ice cream tub to stroke her hair with his newly available hand.

“She’s there every other weekend so I figured. I just hope it’s not my dad, that would be a fucking mess.” She thinks seeing them together after all this time would be too weird. “I actually have to visit Dad sometimes this summer,” she muses. She’s not looking forward to it but she promised him and her new improved self cannot go back on her words.

“Do you want me to come with you?”

She drops her phone at his offer. Does she want him to? That’s exactly what she hoped he would say.

“You’d come visit my dad with me?” She asks him feigning detachment, turning her head so she can rest her chin on his chest and see his face.

“I’d do anything for your sake,” he replies, with that nonchalance of his, as if he was commenting on the weather. He winks at her and she giggles at him, flashes of the memory of these same words and same bed flooding her mind. She moves up his body to kiss his lips, exploring his mouth with her tongue, getting the last remnants of the chocolate chips from the ice cream. He hums in his throat and moves the hand behind his head to the hem of her knickers, squeezing the flesh there and causing a wave of warmth to ball up in her belly.

She hasn’t been this happy in a long time.

When they break away to catch their breaths, she brushes a couple of kisses against his neck, then settles her face there. “Tonight was fun, right?”

“Yeah it was. Next time we’ll get take away though. And me and Isak will choose the video game.”

“Awwww, so the two _tjommis_ can win this time!” she teases him and he tickles her in retaliation, unapologetic smirk on his face. She squirms and bats his hands away, shrieking while thrashing on him, her chest heaving with laughter.

When he stops he lands a kiss on her lips, then removes the locks of her hair that fell in front of her eyes, strokes her cheek tenderly and looks at her, pensive for a bit.

She fists his t-shirt in her hand and looks at him in return, reads the emotion in his eyes. She’s never said anything to him about her and Isak their first year, and she never will, but in moments like this she is reminded that he knows, has possibly always known, and he loves her more for never saying a word to him.

So when he closes his eyes, sighs and says, “I love you,” she smiles, puts her lips to his and whispers against his mouth, “I know.”

 

 


End file.
